The Battle of the Gardens, Astuke Dragonan
by sms999
Summary: During the battle of the gardens everyone played their part, especially one cadet called Astuke Dragonan, here is his story...


The Battle of the Gardens, a Cadets Story

"BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEECUK" "huuu" groan

"Its Morning already, my god my heads killing me" He rubs his face with both his hands and lies still for a minute, the young man sits up and swings his legs off the bed and buries his head in his hands again. He stands up straight and stretches out, then stumbles around "Oh, stood up to quick, head rush" he grabs his head again. He walks over to the mirror, he slowly runs his hands down his long slightly paled face and reveals a scar running from above his right eye straight down to below the same eye, he slaps his hands down hard on the sink "oh my god, look at my eyes their red! Must have been a good party, wonder who carried me back" He runs his hands through his short, dark hair and looks around the room, he sees his information on the wall, (lets check I can still read and every thing) he walk to the opposite end of the room to the information, (your having a laugh) he takes a few steps closer, "Astuke Dragonan, I.D No. 30044. Well at least I can still read, time for breakfast" Astuke gets changes into his candidate uniform and makes his way out of his room, down the dormitory hall ways and to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was almost empty; a bare few people occupied the tables near the window. Astuke walks over to the counter and orders a fried breakfast, and after sweet talking the dinner lady gets some money off, he walks over to the tables and sees his friends; "Morning lads and lady" Astuke calls out, they all shh him, Astuke snigger's, sits down and starts talking

"I see were all hung over then"

"Just a little, you seen the view" replies Hollie, Astuke looks out the window and sees miles of ocean and rocky land,

"Where the hell are we now, what the hell does Squall thinks he's doing!" Dave cuts in,

"Come on man relax, were at Sorceress Edea's House, what you got against Squall anyway?"

"What have I got against Squall! Where the hell do I start, ever since he passed the SeeD exam he thinks he's king of the world, I mean he's running the place what's happened to Headmast…." Adam, cuts him off this time, Astuke begins to look annoyed, "Okay man, stop there, I think you need to take out some aggression, were all heading over to the training section in about an hour, we'll see you then, yeah?" Astuke looks around, whilst Hollie places a hand on his arm, he covers it and sighs,

"Yeah sure, soz man, I'll see you then" The three friends get up and leave leaving Astuke eating his breakfast alone and staring out into the ocean. Astuke turns to watch them leave, Hollie stops and then so does Adam and Dave, they both turn and look at Hollie , they smile and nod and continue on their way out, Hollie turns around and walks back to Astuke. Astuke smiles as she sits down in front of him, "can't get enough of me hey?" Hollie tilts her head to the right and grins back at him,

"Only in your little world" they both laugh, (REAL smooth Astuke), "So, I herd you had a good night last night" She locks her green eyes with Astuke's as she speaks ". . . . . ."

"Hello, Earth to Astuke" Astuke shakes all over,

"Oops, sorry about that, I err . ."

"You err what" (make or break time Astuke)

"I was lost"

"Where"

"In your eyes", Hollie laughs; "Oh come on, be serious" (I was being serious), Astuke lets out a small sigh

"Dam, you can see right through me, so are you training with us later?"

"Of course, who else is gonna cure you when you get your ass kicked?!" They both laugh

"Oh I see, and who was that saved who when the whole garden went crazy for that NORG guy?"

"Hmmm, well we wouldn't have been in that situation if you told the teacher that we were with NORG" (Dam forgot about that bit) "Err, well, what about the Dollet mission?"

"Ok you win, but you're never aloud to use that save again you hear me!"

"HA, yeah ok, I got another question, when are you and Dave gonna get proper weapons like me and Adam"

"Magic IS a proper weapon!"

"Yeah, but you can run out of magic cant you."

"Don't bring that up, that's why we failed the SeeD exam"

"No that's why you failed it, I failed because I abandoned my post and disobeyed my captain's orders, and the way I acted I'll be lucky to ever get another shot." (Did I really just say that!) There was a long silence, Hollie got up and placed a hand on Astuke's shoulder "I'm sorry" She turns and walks away, Astuke sits for a moment and looks up "It's not your . . ." Hollie was gone "…fault". Astuke sits back and throws his fork down on the table (Why am I so bad with words when I'm with her, and if Dave or Adam dare say "just tell her how you feel" one more time, I swear I'm gonna kill them… I'm not I the mood to finish this, I'm leaving) Astuke gets up from the table and leaves the cafeteria.

Astuke leaves the cafeteria, and walks around the main hall of Balamb garden, he stops next to the fountain and stares at it for a moment, (The sound of running water, usually calms me down) Astuke continues to stare at the fountain, the sound of trickling water is the only thing he can hear, he closes his eyes, and breaths in slowly, and then out, Astuke losses himself in another world in his mind. Some-one places a hand on his shoulder, Astuke jumps "Trains do the same thing for me" a girls voice comes from over his shoulder, Astuke turns around to see a young woman, with brown hair in pig tails and a very short yellow dress. "Excuse me" Astuke could only manage those words through being dazed,

"Trains do the same thing for me", the woman moves next to him and leans on the rail to "I love trains, the sounds, the feel of them, and the SeeD carriage isn't that bad either" She grins and faces Astuke, "You seem so sad, what's up?"

"I've just had a bad couple of days. . . Hey you're the girl that transferred from Trabia garden aren't you?"

"That's right!" she grins "and you've HAD a bad couple of days, it's only happy days from here" (how's she still smiling after what happened to her old garden, she must be devastated!) "I'm sorry about what happened to your garden."

"Why are you sorry, its not you fault"

"That's not quite what I . . . !!! . . . Hey, why are you laughing?!?!"

"Oh its nothing you just remind me of someone, that's all, REALLY remind me of someone" (I suppose if she can laugh after what's happened to her I've got no excuse to be moping around) "I don't mean to be rude, but I need to go and meet some friends at the training center, your welcome to join us . . . sorry I didn't catch your name"

"Aww, Astuke I'm hurt, how can you of forgotten me already" Astuke looks at her more closely

"Selphie, dam, I'm sorry, I take it you passed the exam then".

"Yeah only 4 passed the exam, and I was one!" Selphie smiles from ear to ear, Astuke breaks into a smile to.

"4! Well congratulations are in order then!"

"Thank you, well I gotta go, I've got stuff to do."

"Alright nice seeing you again, see ya later"

"See ya" Selphie turned and walked to the front of the hall, Astuke tuned the other way and continued on his way to the dorms.

Back at Astuke's dorm room he equips his GF and magic then walks over to a large case, nearly as tall as he is. Astuke opens the case to reveal a large silver coloured weapon, a trident at one end and a curved blade at the other, "Ah the eclipse, just as I designed, it took me ages to save up enough money to get this made in Balamb, anyway time to go and train, I'm a little early but, hey I need to get rid of some aggression. Astuke slowly walks around the main hall to the training center, casually greeting other student on his way round, Astuke walks down the path with the green line to the training area.

Astuke walks around the training area and draws out a few blizzards from the draw point. All of a sudden theirs a scream followed quickly by a roar, "T-Rexaur!" Astuke runs around the corner and sees T-Rexaur standing over two junior class men and a female cadet, Astuke runs over and hits T-Rexaur with a blizzard, "RUN!" Astuke calls out; the female cadet pushes the juniors out of the way and runs after them. "I really should of thought about this!" Astuke says to himself, T-Rexaur lunges down after Astuke, but he manages to jump out of the way and strikes T-Rexaur with another blizzard, however this seems to only enrage the beast, T-Rexaur raises its head up and lets out a ferocious roar "Ah Shit!" sighs Astuke T-Rexaur begins charging after Astuke, it doesn't take long for Astuke to start running as well, he turns the corner and the giant log is in the way, T-Rexaur is catching up, Astuke leaps onto the log and then off of it T-Rexaur crashes into the log, trips and crashes into the floor, Astuke starts to descend and lands on T-Rexaur's back plunging the trident end of the eclipse into its spine, T-Rexaur roars, stands up and moves around wildly throwing Astuke into the caging, T-Rexaur Walks over to Astuke whose barley conscious, all of a sudden theirs a whipping noise and T-Rexaur crashes to its belly again Astuke hears a female voice "Astuke, hit it now" Astuke staggers to his feet and picks up the eclipse and buries the blade end into the side of T-Rexaur's head, the beast finally stops moving. Astuke falls to his knees next to the beast, and then to his back.

A woman in orange walks over and stands above him she starts to speak "What the hell do you think you are doing taking a T-Rexaur on, and on your own as well, Astuke I never would have expected something like this from you, why were you?" Astuke goes to reply but she cuts him off "Astuke don't even bother explaining yourself because I know what your going to say, Astuke as your old instructor I'm going to report this thoughtless act to headmaster Cid when he gets back until then, I recommend you do not use this facility" She goes to walk away but Astuke finally replies "But Miss Trepe, I..." Quistis cuts him off again "Astuke I said I don't want to hear it, now go back to your dorm" Quistis walks off as Astuke staggers to his feet, Hollie, Dave and Adam come around the corner just in time to see Astuke fall to the floor flat on his face, the three of them run to Astuke and carry him back to his dorm room.

A bare few hours pass while Astuke rests in his dorm room when an announcement came across the PA system; "This is Squall speaking." (What the hell does he want?) "This is an emergency so listen carefully. We're going into battle against Galbadia Garden. 1st and 2nd Class Sabers, assemble in the parking lot. Those with MG Rank 3 or above, head for the 2nd floor deck and await instructions. Be sure to warm up. Quistis, Zell, Selphie. Come up to the bridge right away! Cafeteria team, collect all the hot dogs and store everything in the secret shelter. Don't leave anything for the enemy." (I swear one day…) another announcement comes through; "This is Dr. Kowalski. I'd like to make some additional requests. Students, who have Student ID numbers ending with an 8, please take care of the junior class men Is that alright with you, Squall?" (Oh, is that alright with yo…) a third announcement is made "The enemy will probably come aboard. We must concentrate our forces at the front gate and the quad. If your Student ID number is even, report to the quad. If it's odd, report to the front gate."

"What's Squall gone and done now, why is Galbadia garden attacking us, ah sod it best report to Quad" Astuke gets out of bed and picks up the eclipse from inside its box then quickly makes his way to quad.

Astuke arrives at quad and sees Zell getting everyone into formation, Astuke calls out "Hey Zell, how you doing, saw you at the party" Zell looks over and sees Astuke waving, "S'up, I carried you home last night you were completely out of it, I mean you couldn't even stand up"

"Oh it was you was it cheers, I own you one, by the way you seen my wallet?" Astuke smiles afterwards "WHOA, me?! No I ain't seen it at all you th…" Astuke cuts him off by laughing "Got you man, you're so easy!"

"Shut up and line up biatch" Zell snaps Astuke continues to giggle as he moves to the line "yeah, whose the superior here" Zell teases, Astuke turns around and stares at him, goes to salute but decides half way through to use the single finger salute instead, whilst mouthing the appropriate obscenity, Zell and Astuke lock eyes for a moment, Zell clenches his fists and Astuke tightens his grip on his weapon, they both pause and continue to star at each other, the other students star mumbling, Zell and Astuke both burst out laughing and Astuke lines up. Squall makes his way into the quad with Quistis and Selphie close behind. Zell calls out to Squall "S'up, Squall! I got this place covered." Squall makes his way over to Zell and they start talking. Zell and Squall move over to the side, Squall pulls something off is finger after looking a bit bewildered and hands it to Zell, Zell Jumps up "Thanks Man!" then his voice is unheard again, a young woman in blue walks over to them and talks for a few seconds, Squall nods and she runs and lines up in front of me.

An announcement came over the PA; it was Nida "Squall! Get back to the bridge right now!" Squall looks up and shakes his head, then turns and talks to Zell again, Squall then turns and talks to us "Good Luck, everyone" He then leaves followed by Selphie and Quistis, Zell moves to the front of us all "Time to get it ON!" Zell shouts out, we all cheer and draw out our weapons, Zell rallies us "Galbadia is attacking, not its garden, these will not be students and SeeDs but highly trained soldiers, don't show any mercy 'cos you wont get none! We need to hold this position so we can counter attack! For the future of the garden and for headmaster Cid, LETS DO THIS!" The students all cheer. Another announcement comes over the PA; "The enemy Garden is right by us! Quad team! Watch out!"

Almost without warning several bikes come crashing into the quad and completely breaks up our formation, "Galbadian Soldiers! Let's teach them not to mess with a Garden!" Astuke shouts but the word are barley audible over the noise, a bike comes straight for him the driver holding out his sword, ready to swing, Astuke raises the trident end of the eclipse and catches the soldiers sword wrenching him off his bike, Astuke turns around in time to duck under another sword swing and run the blade from the eclipse across the small of his back, dropping him to the ground, he sees Adam and Dave dropping soldiers like there's no tomorrow, Astuke makes eye contact with Dave who signals for him to duck, Astuke quickly drops to the ground and hears a small explosion behind him and then the sound of a man collapsing, Astuke looks back at Dave who gives him a thumbs up, Astuke signals for Dave to duck but Dave's already turned away, Astuke gets to his feet and sprints, the whole floor shakes and Astuke falls to his knees, so does Dave and the soldier behind him, Astuke picks himself up and starts to run across the quad again this time screaming at Dave to look behind him, but its to late the Galbadian soldier runs him through. Dave looks down to see a bloodied tip of a sword through his stomach, he drops to his knees, Astuke screams as Dave falls to the floor, the Galbadian soldier slowly pulls his blade from Dave, he looks up at Astuke charging towards him and grins, Astuke lunges at the soldier with the blade, the soldier parries and comes back with a shot to the head of Astuke who just about ducks under, straightening up and turning around Astuke thrust the trident at the soldier, the soldier parries again, but his sword get caught between the points he struggles a bit then Astuke rips the sword from his hands spins around and takes the soldiers head clean off. Astuke drops his weapon and kneels next to Dave. Dave looks up at Astuke "Hold on Dave, you'll get through this" Astuke looks around "HELP ME!" Astuke shouts out, he looks back down in time to see Dave's head fall to the side, lifeless. Astuke pulls him in close and screams, he looks up to see Zell running alone across the quad, he looks around and sees a couple of soldiers chasing him, he gets up, picks up his weapon and charges at them casting fire on one knocking him down, he quickly moves in cutting the other one off, the soldier lunges in Astuke blocks with the pole of his weapon but the sword cut straight through, knocking him back and out of the way of the oncoming sword, Astuke stumbles around dropping his weapon he picks up a sword from the floor, the other soldier has made it back to his feet and stumbles around, he sees his colleague fighting with the student that just knocked him down, he charges in, Astuke sees the second soldier coming and desperately tries to finish off the first, the second soldiers sword flies in but then it stops right in front of Astuke, and drops and so does the first soldier, Astuke looks up to see Adam standing tall "Astuke, you owe me" Astuke nods and looks around to see most of the soldiers lying on the floor, he looks up to see paratroopers dropping in, Astuke calls out to every one "Fall back! We can't take a second assault!" Astuke looks across to Adam "Adam get every one out, and…" Astuke pauses

"What is it, hang on where's Dave" There's a short silence whilst Adam realizes what's happened "no…" Astuke points to where Dave is "he's over there can you carry him out, I've gotta get Zell and the students at the edge" Adam wipes a tear from his face and nods, he turns and shouts at the students to fall back as Astuke goes after Zell, he finds Zell over a huge gap at the edge of garden, the sound is deafening Astuke's shouting just to be herd "Zell, Zell," Zell finally turns and looks at Astuke "What" Zell yelled back

"We gotta go, Paratroopers are coming in"

"I can't leave Rinoa, Squall ordered me to rescue her"

"What, where is she!" Zell looks down the gap "Dam man, the paratroopers will kill you if you stay, we gotta go there's to many, I know you have your orders, but her only chance is if we all regroup and come back at them full force."

"Astuke I can't leave her here"

"You have to, if you get killed then no-ones gonna be able to rescue her!"

"DAMN IT!"

"Come on, quickly" Astuke grabs Zell's arm and wenches him up and runs to the exit. Paratroopers start landing around them as the run through the quad, they reach the exit and regroup with what's left of the students, and most of them are crying at their losses, Zell leaves the quad, (where's he going).

Astuke stands at the front of the students and address them, his voice is calm and precise "We can not let the Galbadian soldiers out of here, if you do not wish to fight, then carry the injured and the" he pauses, the students look to him, he wipes the tears from his eyes "and the dead to the infirmary but I am asking you for help here and now." The students move about some pick up the injured and move off, whilst the others draw their weapons and ready themselves for a second assault, all of a sudden Squalls voice comes over the PA "Everybody. This is Squall. How's everyone doing? You're all probably too tired to even stand up after all the fighting. But I want everyone to listen to me... We still have a chance to win, and I need your help. This is going to be our final battle. We're going to attack them before they come in again. To do that, we're going to head straight into their Garden. So I want everyone to prepare for a major collision. Take care of all the junior class men Irvine, Quistis, Zell, and Selphie will lead the attack into their Garden. As for everyone else, please support them if you can. SeeD was formed to fight the sorceress; at least, that's what I heard. And Garden was created to train SeeDs. So this battle is Garden's destiny and also our destiny. It's a grueling battle, and I'm sure you guys are all exhausted. But I don't want to have any regrets. I don't want anyone to look back and regret this day. So just this once, I want you guys to give everything you've got! For yourselves and for me!" Astuke looks up (now I see), Astuke turns back to the students and sees more student coming back into the quad "Right lets deal with these paratroops and then support Quistis, Selphie and Zell, magic users give us cover with thunder and help us out with cure, for Gods sake try to keep out of combat, that's what we're here for, like Squall said FOR GARDEN!" the student start to cheer, Zell comes running up the path and into the quad "Astuke we need more people at the front gate, you and some others need to come with me" Zell's panting as he stops in front of Astuke "What, no I cant le.." Zell cuts Astuke off

"No time to argue, NOW!" Astuke nods and looks back at the students,

"Adam, you take charge," Adam Nods "You lot at the back lets go support"

Astuke moves of after Zell with several more students in support, they reach the front gate in time to witness it crash into Galbadia garden, and Zell leads the attack with the cry "OHHH YEAHHH! We're in!"

"Ready guys!?" Quistis shouts out

"YEAH!" the chorus from the students comes loud and clear, they all charge out and immediately are surrounded by Galbadian soldiers Zell break rank with a shout "Let's rock!" all the students charge into the ranks of the soldiers and break them, the battle quickly breaks down into individual fights with no visible battle line, Astuke leaps up and pushes his sword through the first soldier he comes against, unable to block, the soldier takes the sword through the chest and collapses, Astuke looks around for anyone in trouble, another soldier comes up sword over head ready to come crashing down on Astuke's head, Astuke quickly parries and cuts through the soldiers throat, spraying him with blood, the soldier drops forward, Astuke spins around and parries another sword strike and casts fire sending the soldier flying, then he feels a sharp pain through his lower body, he looks down to see a bloody sword, being pulled back through him, he lunges forward and turns, with a scream he takes the head off the Galbadian soldier, Astuke drops to his knees, with the tip of his sword in the ground, breathing heavy, Astuke sees a shadow on the floor in front of him, Astuke looks up to see a soldier in red lining up his gun, Astuke lunges forwards taking the soldier of guard, and cuts through his arm, turns to face away from the soldier and plunges his sword into the soldiers stomach, Astuke falls forward again, back to one knee he looks forward and he sees a familiar face in front of him waving her arms, all of a sudden he feels invincible, he looks at the girl again "Hollie!" a huge smile comes across his face, she smiles back and winks, Astuke hears a motorbike behind he him turns in time to slice the driver from the bike, he hears machine gun fire, he turns to see Hollie fall to the ground and a soldier holding a machine gun with a smoking barrel "NOOOOOOO!" Astuke screams out, the soldier sees him but is to late, Astuke casts Thunder on him, knocking the soldier down, Astuke runs over jumps up and plunges his sword into the soldiers chest, leaving the sword there he turns and runs to Hollie and picks her up "No, you cant die" Astuke carries Hollie over to another student (I'm not losing two friends today) "please can you help her" the student looks around and nods casting cure on Hollie, but she still doesn't move "whys it not working!" Astuke's shouting at the student

"It will take some time these wounds are extensi" Astuke cuts her off

"If you're wrong, I don't know what I'll do, I'm leaving her with you" The student nods again and turns away this time casting magic Astuke had never seen before, Astuke runs through the battle and pulls his sword from the soldier he had just killed, he looks around and charges another soldier, running him through from behind, he turns and casts fire on a charging soldier, there aren't many people left on either side, the battle is winding down, Astuke finds a small group of fighters and joins up with them, the all cover each others back, a guard comes in but before he can do anything he was hit with more magic Astuke had never seen, Astuke surveys the battle field, he looks over towards Balamb garden and sees people getting onto Galbadia garden, the look slightly familiar, it's the people he was with at the quad, Astuke points it out to the group of people he with they all cheer, the Galbadian soldiers see the reinforcements coming and start to withdraw, the students cheer, then look around and see what has just transpired, Astuke takes command again "Come on people, lets get the injured back to garden, come back for the" Astuke pauses again, never had he imagined he would have to say that word, let alone more than twice in one day "come back for the dead" all the students fall silent, and bow their heads down, Astuke is the last to help move some of the wounded when he picks Hollie back up and carries her to the infirmary, "Hollie, I don't know if you can hear me……But if you can please come back, I need you, Hollie, I love you, more even than life its self, please don't leave me now, I don't know what I'd do if you died"

Astuke reaches the infirmary and its full, Dr. Kadowaki is run off her feet, the hall outside is full of students, KO ed, injured and some even dead, Astuke places Hollie down and kisses her on the forehead, and approaches Dr. Kadowaki catching her eye Astuke asks "what can I do to help?"

"Unless you've drawn some cure magic's not a lot." The reply comes whilst she tends to another patient

"I have a few, but I'm only a low level magic user." Dr. Kadowaki looks at him,

"Good, go into the hallway, if they only look slightly injured cast cure, do you have any life's or phoenix downs?"

"No, sorry"

"Okay, just do what you can"

"Erm, if I may, my friend Hollie took some bullets, she's had cure cast on her but it doesn't seem to be working"

"BULLETS! Bring her in here right now; cure doesn't have the same effect on bullet damage!" Astuke jumps back and sprints out of the infirmary, carefully picking up Hollie, he quickly carries her into the infirmary and places her on the bed, Dr. Kadowaki pulls the curtain across "Astuke, you need to leave now" Astuke looks at her and reluctantly leaves, Astuke patrols the hallway occasionally squatting down and curing a student, but to many are injured, Astuke feels weak, as he finally runs out of cure magic, he looks around, then feels a hand on his shoulder, "There's nothing more you can do, Hollie is in Dr. Kadowaki's hands now"

"I know Adam, it's just…" Astuke drops down to his knees and passes out on the floor.

Astuke wakes up, he's in his dorm room, "Hollie!" he sits up suddenly, then collapses back down feeling dizzy, Adam walks into Astuke's room from outside, "ya know, your lucky I'm your room mate, you were exhausted, you collapsed in the hall outside the infirmary, Dr. Kadowaki saw and told me to take you back to your room so that you could get some much deserved sleep, your body just gave up a few hours ago…" Astuke cuts Adam off "A few HOURS ago, has it been that long!?! How's Hollie doing?"

"She's gonna be fine, she's still in the infirmary recovering from Dr. Kadowaki's treatments." Astuke sits up again, this time more slowly, he turns and puts his feet on the floor, Astuke goes to get up, but suddenly falls back down, Adam catches him and sits Astuke back down on the bed. "You really need some food, you got any stashed away?"

"Adam, why would I have food stashed away, there's a cheap cafeteria down the hall?"

"So I'm guessing you don't get peckish then, wait right there." Adam leaves the room and goes inside his own, there are some rummaging sounds and after a short time Adam comes back in with a bar of something in his hand. "What's that in your hand?"

"Power-bar, eat up, I know it tastes bad but it's a great source of energy."

"Thanks" Adam leaves the room while Astuke eats the power-bar and lies back down, Astuke soon falls back to sleep.

More time passes, Astuke lies asleep, motionless, its dark out side, when Astuke wakes up, the lights on outside, Astuke sits up feeling much better, his stomach growls, (ok, I'm really hungry), Astuke slowly sits up, then stands, maintaining his balance Astuke slowly walks out of his room and into the dormitory hall, the place is empty, Astuke looks out of one of the windows to see miles of water, the silence lets Astuke think as he breaths slowly, taking deep breaths and completely expelling the air from his lungs, Astuke looks around, still no-one to be seen, Astuke leaves the dorm area and enters the main hall. The lights are all on and there's no faculty around any of the other areas (this place sure has changed), the sounds of the water fountains are the only things that can be herd. Astuke walks around the main hall until he reaches the exit for the infirmary, he takes a deep breath and walks down the passage way, the door to the infirmary is closed, but there's a light on the other side, Astuke quietly knocks on the door and waits for a reply, a few seconds pass, Astuke goes to walk away when Dr. Kadowaki opens the door, Dr Kadowaki calls after Astuke "Who is it"

"It's Astuke, how's Hollie doing?"

"Astuke, do you know what time it is?"

"Erm, no, but I just woke up, and I would like to know how Hollie's doing, if that's alright with you of course"

"Hollie's . . . she should come too, but I don't know when it will be the wounds were extensive, Astuke there's nothing you can do just go"

"Please, can I just see her; maybe sit with her for a bit, please, she's all I can think about, I don't know what to do with myself." Astuke says as he cuts her off. "Okay, but just this once, and don't you tell anyone" Dr. Kadowaki opens the door, Astuke shields his eyes from the light, still shielding his eyes Astuke makes his way into the infirmary, walking through he sees a girl in blue and black lying on the main bed, but he continues on is way through to the back where most of the students are, they continue walking through, the place is so quiet you could hear a pin drop, aside from a cough every so often. The two reach the back of the room and go through another door into a private room. The room is bare ream apart from Hollie's lying under a white blanket on a hospital bed at the center, with machinery right next to her on one side and a drippier on the other, with a tube leading into her right arm, there's a window above her head and the moons shining straight through onto her, there is an occasional beep from the machinery, (must be the heart monitor), there is a single wooden seat in the room in the far corner and a large cupboard above it, Dr. Kadowaki urges Astuke into the room, then shuts the door after him leaving the two alone, Astuke walks up to Hollie, and brushes her brown hair out of her pale white face, Astuke stares at her for a moment, remembering being lost in her eyes, now shut, he closes his eyes to, a tear runs down his left cheek, he walks over to the chair and quietly picks it up and places it on Hollie's right hand side next to her shoulder, the opposite side to the entrance, Astuke sis down next to her and leans over to look at her face again "Hollie. . ." there's no reply "Can you hear me?" Astuke moves around, closer to her head, he slowly runs his hand through her hair "It's me, Astuke" Astuke's almost in tears. (This isn't fair, what's she done to deserve this), Astuke looks at her pale face in the moonlight again, "please come back, I need you Hollie, I . . . love . . . you, I never told you before, but, I really do, I don't know how you feel about me, but every time I say anything you always think I'm joking, and it's easier to go with that than to say anything otherwise." The heart monitor is the only other sound in the room; Astuke wipes the tears from his eyes and continues "But . . . I really love you, that's why I abandoned my post in Dollet to help you, not your squad, you, it's why I've always tried to be there for you, always tried. . . !!!" The heart monitor becomes irregular and quickens whilst Astuke talking and a red light flashes on the screen, Astuke stands up pushing the chair back across the floor "NO!" Astuke burst out of the room down to the reception area, Dr. Kadowaki's already on the way back, Astuke follows her into the room, Dr. Kadowaki pulls a needle from the cupboard, she places it into a bottle from the cupboard, pulls out a clear liquid and injects it into the dripper, it has no effect, Astuke takes Hollie's right hand and holds it between his "Come on Hollie fight it" Dr. Kadowaki injects a second dose into the dripper, the beeps slow down, she looks at the machinery as medical students arrive, on of the nurses escorts Astuke out of the room and shuts the door, Astuke slowly makes his way back to the reception area and sits down, Astuke buries his head in his hands and breaks down into tears.

Some time passes and Astuke feels a hand on his shoulder, it's the nurse that escorted him out, she moves round to the front of Astuke and lowers herself to his eye level, Astuke looks into her eyes as she talks to him in what seems like slow motion, "She is going to be alright, she has stabilized, Dr. Kadowaki said you can go see her again" Astuke nods, wipes the tears from his face and stands up, he slowly walks back to Hollie's room and closes the door after him, Dr. Kadowaki's the only other person in the room, closely studying the machines on Hollie's right, Astuke moves the chair around to Hollie's left, again next to her shoulder, he takes her hand, its cold, the moon has moved on and no longer lights her up, instead a dim yellow light at the head of the bed reveals her face. Astuke looks at her eyes; they're still shut, but are flickering "You gave me quite a scare" Dr. Kadowaki looks over and then back to the machine screen, she looks satisfied and quietly leaves them, Astuke places Hollie's hand back onto the bed, he softly caresses her face with the back of his hand, he leans over and whispers into her ear "I'll still be here when you wake up, I promise" Astuke leans back in the chair and yawns, he takes Hollie's hand in his own again, places his head on her shoulder and falls asleep.

Astuke wakes up, the sun is beaming through the window, making Hollie's face radiate, Astuke has his breath taken away when he sits up and looks at her, he leans forward and whispers into her ear "Morning, I'm still here, I'm still waiting for you" Astuke sits back and looks out the window, he can see some large red metal structures "Waiting for me? To do what"

"Wake up of course . . . !!! You're awake!"

"Only just, how long have I been asleep?"

"I don't know, longer than me, how do you feel?"

"I'm fine, I see you're as useful as ever" they both laugh, Hollie stops and grabs her ribs, she looks around "hey, where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary, the other day, the battle with Galbadia garden, you were shot, I carried you back, and when I woke up last night I came here to see you, then I fell asleep in here"

"Shot!?! I don't remember that!"

"I think that's probably for the best"

"I suppose your right, for once, last night I dreamt, I dreamt I could hear your voice, telling me all these things and asking me to fight, now I wake up and you're here with me, tell me Astuke was I dreaming all the things I could hear, because. . ."

"I was here, and I talked to you, and if you herd me, I meant every word that I said" Hollie smiles, Astuke looks over and there eyes meet, she realizes that Astuke is holding her hand, she tightens her grip and beckons Astuke to lean forward, Astuke leans in, his chin is over her shoulder, she beckons Astuke again, Astuke leans even further in, she whispers to Astuke, "I love you to" she moves her head forward slightly and kisses Astuke on the lips, Hollie leans back into her bed "And, I always have." They both smile, Dr. Kadowaki knocks on the door and comes in, Astuke shoots back into his chair, "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" she asks

"No, of course not, what can I do for you Doctor?" Hollie replies before Astuke can even open his mouth "Well actually Hollie, for me, you can get some rest and food, but I've come in to give you the later and to check up on you" Dr. Kadowaki pulls a sliding table up from the bottom of the bed, then leans around the back near the head and hold down a button, the head of the bed begins to lift up startling Hollie. "Eat up, Astuke be a gentleman and bring the tray out when she's finished"

"Of course, I'll be out when she's done"

"Err, Astuke you do realize that's its rude to talk about someone in the third person when they're right here!"

"Opps, sorry", all three of them laugh a little. Dr. Kadowaki inspects the monitors and looks quite pleased, she even smiles when she looks back around at Hollie and Astuke who's helping Hollie eat her breakfast, Astuke holds a fork and knife for Hollie, cuts up her toast and feeds it to her after teasing her a little by moving it back and forth from her mouth and receiving a stern stare for his troubles, they both laugh lightly, then she chews her food. Dr. Kadowaki leaves them again, Hollie finishes her breakfast, and Astuke wipes her mouth with a napkin.

"I was so scared for you last night, I really thought you weren't gonna make it for a bit!" Astuke caresses her cheek with the back of his hand again. Hollie smiles "You told me to fight, so I did, and I'm so glad I did."

"There was a point last night that I thought I'd lost you forever, just like Dave"

"What do you mean "Just like Dave"!"

"In the battle, the first wave, one of the soldiers . . . Killed Dave

"Oh No!" they both begin to cry, Astuke leans forward and embraces Hollie, she cries on his shoulder, Astuke holds her for some time, she slowly regains her composure, he carefully moves her back into her mattress. Astuke stands up, Hollie looks up startled "Where are you going?" Astuke picks up her tray and smiles, "I'm being a gentleman and taking out your tray, I'll be back don't worry." Hollie grabs Astuke's arm "don't go just yet stay with me, just for a bit longer" Astuke smiles, puts the tray back down and takes his seat again, Hollie smiles, she goes to speak but an announcement over the PA cuts her off, it's Xu "Squall, Please report to the bridge immediately, also could Astuke Dragonan please report to the 2nd floor lobby for de-briefing, that is all"

Astuke and Hollie sign, "Sounds like I gotta go, sorry"

"But you said you'd stay here for a bit longer"

"When you're called to the second floor lobby, it's normally for a reason, I have to go, I promise I'll be back as soon as can though" Astuke goes to leave,

"What, no kiss?!?" Astuke stops dead, and rubs the back of his neck,

"Ha, almost forgot" Astuke walks back over and kisses Hollie on her forehead, she smiles "that's better, now you can go"

"Thank you miss!" they both laugh; Astuke grabs her tray and leaves the private room. Walking back through the ward, lots of students are still asleep, others have got their own breakfast in front of them, Astuke continues walking through back into the reception area, he places the tray on the table, and looks around, Dr. Kadowaki is no-where to be seen, and nor for that matter is the girl in black and blue, Astuke shrugs it off and makes his way to the hall.

Walking round Adam catches up with him, "Hey this sounds good, I wonder why they want to talk to you?" Astuke slows his pace to help Adam catch his breath,

"I don't know, that's why I'm going"

"Alright no need to snap at me, anyway where've you been, I woke up this morning and all your stuff was gone!"

"I went to see Hollie, she's recovered now and she's awake if you want to go and see her I'm sure she'll be happy to speak to you"

"Okay, I'll go and do that then, good luck, with what ever it is they want with you" Adam turns and leaves Astuke

"Thanks, I'll see you both soon ye. . . Hang on what do you means all my stuffs gone!?!" but Adams already out of reach, Astuke's at the bottom of the stairs to the elevator, he takes a deep breath, climbs them, enters the elevator and hits the button for the second floor. The elevator smoothly starts up and takes Astuke up to the second floor (I wonder what they want with me?) "Ping!" the elevator stops, the doors open and Astuke exits, he makes his way along the walkway and sees a familiar in front of him, it was Quistis, Astuke slows his pace, conversations with Quistis always seem to end in Astuke going under disciplinary actions, Quistis looks at Astuke and smiles, Astuke relaxes his shoulder and continues forward at his normal pace. "What can I do for you Miss Trepe?"

"You can follow me into the class room and brief me on every thing that happened the other day with regard to the Galbadia garden incident" her tone was cold, Astuke slumped forward as Quistis turned and walked into the class room, Astuke slowly enters after her, after he walks into the room he sees has a surprise, a face he recognized but hadn't seen for a long time, headmaster Cid, around him are Zell, Selphie, Quistis, Nida, Xu and some other guy he hadn't met in a large leather coat and cowboy hat. Headmaster Cid stepped forward and started to speak to Astuke, Astuke quickly stood to attention "I have herd a lot about you Astuke, and about how you acted yesterday" He paused "After talking over with the most of the people you see around me, manly Zell, I have been persuaded to grant you a level 6 rank SeeD" Astuke goes weak at the knees, struggles to regain his composure and replies to the headmaster "Me, sir, I have done nothing to deserve this, especially after my actions at Dollet, I'm surprised you even let me stay here"

"Astuke, I know why you abandoned your post in Dollet, the faculty wanted you expelled but I asked that you remain, I saw potential in you my boy, and you surpassed my expectations the other day, from what I herd from Zell you took control of the Quad defense team after Zell was given another mission, you were prepared to lead them into battle for the attack on Galbadia garden, but you followed orders and assisted in the main assault through the front gate, and, from what I have herd from other students, you eventually took control there as well, you felled many foes, and helped another one, who I believe is still in the infirmary, and from what I herd from Dr. Kadowaki," He pauses and points to the corner, Astuke catches a glimpse of Dr. Kadowaki, who he had missed earlier, "You stayed with her all night, until she recovered, and, I almost forgot, you helped her heal, many students even though it meant you collapsed yourself, in the past few days you have shown all the qualities we expect off of a SeeD student, determination, compassion, leadership, and well lets just leave it there shall we, I need to get back to Edea." Cid chuckles to himself and approaches Astuke again, then hands him his graduation certificate. Cid leans forward and whispers into Astuke's ear, "You may not be a huge part of this story, but, your time will come", Astuke nods, Cid straightens up and leaves the room, Astuke looks around as everyone else claps, he shies away, Zell walks up and pats Astuke on the back "Well done man, I knew you could do it!" Astuke hugs Zell with one arm, and then leaves him "Well, if you could do it I suppose I had to pass sooner or later!" Every one but Zell laughs "Oh! I see! Its fine when I'm the butt end of a joke, but anyone else! Grrr!" Every one laughs even harder, Zell leaves the room fuming, they eventually calm down, Nida walks up to Astuke, "Finally all my squad's passed!"

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that!"

"I've talked to someone, I know why you did that now, it's okay, you don't need to explain yourself to me" Astuke nods, Nida steps back, Xu calls for Astuke,

"Astuke, Astuke, we've moved your stuff to your new dorm room the number S345 an" Astuke cuts her off

"Errr, you say you moved everything, who actually moved my stuff?"

"Me and Quistis, last night after you left, why?" Xu replies

"Ha ha . . . ha, no reason" Astuke sounds rather awkward

"Oh!" Xu exclaims, she walks up to him and whispers in Astuke's ear, "Don't worry, I found them, moved them, and I won't tell anyone, but you owe me"

"Thank you, hey, what do you mean I owe you?"

"A favor"

"Oh, of course, any time." Xu giggles and stands up and walks back to where she was standing. One after another every-one walks forward and shakes Astuke's hand, then leaves, Quistis is last, she walks up to him, "I believe this is the first time we have parted with me not having the intention of reporting you" Astuke laughs awkwardly "Yeah, I suppose so, how did Headmaster Cid take the T-Rexaur incident?"

"Very well, it's another reason you're now a SeeD"

"Hey?!?"

"On my way out, I ran into a female student, just about to go back in, she asked for someone, she described you, I asked why, she told me what you done, I continued on my way to Cid after tell her you were with your friends, and told I'm a revised version of the incident, he was impressed with your selflessness."

"Thank you"

"Astuke, I believe I own you an apology" Quistis stands up straight "Astuke, I'm" Astuke cuts her off

"There is no need for you to apologize to me, you're just looking out for me, thank you, for everything, I wouldn't have ever become a SeeD with out you." Quistis nods, her eyes water, she removes her glasses, wipes her eyes, shakes Astuke's hand and leaves. Astuke was alone in the room, "Oh Hollie's is not going to believe this, woooooooooo! YEAH!" Astuke regains his composure and leaves the class room.


End file.
